Teaspoons (set of four)

c. 1845

Maker

John F. Robinson (1812-1867)

Measurements

5-3/4 in x 1-1/8 in x 3/4 in

Materials

Silver

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of Mrs. D. Meredith Reese

Accession Number

1978.49

Inscription

"1847 / MCW / 1876 / MCC" is engraved on the front of the handle; "J.F.ROBINSON" in relief within a rectangle is stamped into the underside of the handle.

Provenance

The set of spoons descended from Mrs. Daniel (Mary Corbit Wilson) Corbit to her daughter, Mrs. Edward Tatnall (Mary Cowgill Corbit) Warner.  Having no surviving children, Mary Warner likely gave the spoons to Ann Louise Corbit, the donor, who was her niece.

Comments

The teaspoons have pointed oval bowls and fiddleback handles that turn upward at the tip.  They are marked J F Robinson, likely silversmith John, but he had a brother Jacob F. Robinson (1819-1867), who also may have been a silversmith, although recent research shies away from him.  See Donald F. Fennimore, Delaware Silver:  the Col. Kenneth P. & Regina I. Brown Collection (Dover, Del.:  Biggs Museum of American Art, 2008), p. 254.  John Robinson worked from 1837 to 1857, when he sold his tools, stock, and shop to his sister.

The engraved initials are complex too.  "MCW" represents the first engraving, almost certainly predating Mary Wilson's marriage in 1847 to Daniel Corbit, when her initials changed.  Her daughter Mary added her own initials, MCC, again before her 1876 marriage.  Subsequently, she added marriage dates to both sets of initials. 

For another nearly identical set of four teaspoons, unmarked by the maker but with the same engraving and provenance, see accession no. 1978.49.